What Ren Siqi and Huang Degong didn't know was that Zuo Liangyu was terminally ill at this time, and the time was short. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info didn't know that the reason why Zuo Liangyu's army wanted to leave Wuchang and go down the river was not because he really wanted to be on the side of the Qing monarch, but because Li Zicheng left Xiangyang with an army of 200,000 and forced Wuchang to come, and Zuo Liangyu did not dare to go against the Dashun army at all, and after killing and looting on a large scale, he set fire to Wuchang City, and the whole army went down the river in the name of the Qing army.

Speaking of which, we can't fail to mention Li Zicheng, the Emperor of Dashun.

In March of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, that is, last year, Li Zicheng led the army to attack Beijing, forcing Chongzhen to hang himself on the coal mountain. However, the good times did not last long, Wu Sangui led the Qing troops into the customs, a stone battle, the Shun army was defeated, and the emperor withdrew from Beijing in a hurry and fled back to Shaanxi.

In the first month of this year, the Qing army Azig Department and Duoduo Department attacked from two directions, and Li Zicheng could not stand in Shaanxi, and fled into southern Henan through Lantian and Shangzhou, because Xiangyang, Jingzhou, Chengtian, and De'an were still under the control of the Shun army, and there were 70,000 troops under the command of General Bai Wang. Together with the more than 100,000 troops that Li Zicheng withdrew from Shaanxi, the total strength is still 200,000.

However, Li Zicheng also knew that the four mansions of Xiangyang alone were not enough to resist the Manchu army, and it was not enough to achieve great things. If you want to seize the world, you must choose a better base. And the land of Jiangdong with Nanjing as the center is the richest place in the world, if you can seize Jiangdong, with the wealth and manpower of Jiangdong, Dashun will rise again!

After making up his mind, Li Zicheng ordered the entire army to be assembled, abandoned the four prefectures of Xiangyang, and the whole army went down the river to attack Nanjing. As for the Ming army blocking the road, Li Zicheng didn't pay attention to it at all.

Except for the Manchurian army, Li Zicheng is not afraid of anyone, and in the past ten years, almost all the generals of the Ming army have been defeated by Li Zicheng. Against the Ming army, Li Zicheng had a strong psychological advantage.

Sure enough, seeing the Shun army attacking, Zuo Liangyu, who was entrenched in Wuchang, did not dare to resist at all, and before the Shun army could attack, the whole army fled from Wuchang, and before leaving, he ordered Wuchang to be slaughtered, and then burned Wuchang City to the ground, in short, nothing was left for the Shun army.

The current situation is that the Qing army is divided into two ways to attack Ming, one is that Duoduo led the army from Tongguan to attack Yangzhou through Guide. On the other hand, Azig led the army to follow behind Li Zicheng's Dashun army, wanting to completely destroy the Shun army. Li Zicheng led the Shun army to abandon Xiangyang, and the 200,000-strong army attacked Wuchang. Zuo Liangyu of Wuchang was afraid that Yu Shun's army would let him go, so in the name of Qingjun's side, the whole army went down the river and left Wuchang.

Huang Degong and Ren Siqi led the army to assemble in Wuhu and tried to block Zuo Liangyu's army.

Regarding the situation in the world, both Huang Degong and Ren Siqi are actually confused, because ancient information is not developed, and it takes a long time for news to come from thousands of miles away, and even the speed of news transmission is not as fast as the speed of the army.

Huang Degong and even the Southern Ming court did not know the real reason why Zuo Liangyu's army went down the river. Although Ren Siqi has memories of his past life in his mind, he only knows some major events, but he is completely unclear about the development of specific things. For example, he knew that Li Zicheng was defeated when the Qing soldiers entered the pass, and he knew that Li Zicheng was defeated by the Qing soldiers in Jiugong Mountain, Hubei, and in the end, he didn't know whether he died, or became a monk as the legend said.

Because of the lack of news, in the eyes of Huang Degong and Ren Siqi, the only enemy in front of them at this time was Zuo Liangyu. You must think of defeating Zuo Liangyu, or blocking the left army. In this way, the Nanjing Imperial Court can breathe a sigh of relief and resist the attack of the Qing soldiers in Yangzhou wholeheartedly!

Just when the armies of Huang Degong and Ren Siqi were assembled in Wuhu, Zuo Liangyu's army had already reached Jiujiang.

On April 1 of the first year of Hongguang, Zuo Liangyu's army arrived in Jiujiang.

Jiujiang was known as Jiangzhou and Chaisang in ancient times, and was an important town in Jiangxi, known as "the mouth of the three rivers and the thoroughfare of seven provinces". Location is extremely important. Huang Fengwu's father, Huang Binqing, was a Jiujiang general soldier for a few days.

If you don't hit the Jiujiang River, you can't continue to go down the river to the east. However, the geographical location of Jiujiang is so important, and there are naturally heavy troops stationed in Jiujiang City. Yuan Jixian, the governor of Caojiang, is now in Jiujiang.

The governor of Caojiang, as the name suggests, is responsible for the defense of the river, and the deputy governor of the imperial history is responsible for it, leading the affairs of the upper and lower river defenses. Originally, the governor of Caojiang was stationed in Anqing, but when he heard that the left army was moving east, Yuan Jixian came to Jiujiang from Anqing in an attempt to block the left army in the west of Jiujiang.

Jiujiang is an important town in Jiangxi, and it takes a lot of effort to fight down, but where does Zuo Liangyu have so much time. So he invited Yuan Jixian to meet in the boat, trying to persuade Yuan Jixian to sacrifice Jiujiang.

In the face of Zuo Liangyu's 200,000 army, Yuan Jixian also knew that Jiujiang alone was not enough to resist the left army. So he personally went to Zuo Liangyu's boat, trying to persuade Zuo Liangyu to quit the army.

As soon as he entered the boat, Zuo Liangyu took out a secret message of the "crown prince", and then coerced Yuan Jixian to "clear the monarch's side and save the prince". The prince mentioned by Zuo Liangyu is the puppet prince case that just happened in Nanjing, a young man who claimed to be the prince of the first emperor came to Jiangnan, causing chaos in the Nanjing court.

Seeing Zuo Liangyu's so-called secret edict, Yuan Jixian was furious.

"The authenticity of the crown prince is undecided, I don't know where your secret edict came from? Even if this crown prince is true, the grace of the first emperor cannot be beared, but can the grace of the present be bearable, how can you be the Marquis of Ningnan and lead a town of heavy troops without today? ”

Zuo Liangyu reclined on the couch, his eyelids drooping, and he didn't react to Yuan Jixian's words.

Helpless, Yuan Jixian clasped his hands into fists, bowed to the generals of Zhou Zhouzhong's left army, and asked them to take major matters as the priority and cherish the people.

"The Ming Dynasty is in turmoil, and the imperial court is in danger, I hope that you will put the community first, take the people as your mind, and don't be a chaotic minister and thief."

However, for the generals of the Left Army, who are prone to killing people and slaughtering cities, it is not easy for them to cherish the people and play the harp to the cows.

"The murder of the prince was done by Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng and other traitorous ministers, and it has nothing to do with today, Benhou led the army east only to the side of the Qing monarch and not a rebellion. As for cherishing the people, it is a matter of course, and Lord Yuan is not too worried. ”

After being silent for a long time, Zuo Liangyu said slowly.

Seeing that Zuo Liangyu could not be persuaded to withdraw his troops, Yuan Jixian could only return to the city gloomily. After returning to the city, he ordered the generals to strictly guard the city and not allow a single soldier of the left army to enter the city. There are more than 20,000 troops in Jiujiang City, Yuan Jixian is confident that he can block Zuo Liangyu out of Jiujiang, as long as Jingnan Hou Huang Degong's army arrives, it is not impossible to wipe out Zuo Liangyu outside Jiujiang with internal and external attacks.

Yuan Jixian knew that his subordinate deputy Zhang Jixun had already secretly taken refuge in Zuo Liangyu. In the middle of the night, Zhang Jixun led his men to set fires everywhere, and countless fires ignited in Jiujiang City, and the entire Jiujiang City fell into flames in a short period of time.

Yuan Jixian was awakened by the firelight, walked out of the mansion, and hurriedly summoned the army to put out the fire. However, when the fire spreads, where can there be rescue.

Zhang Jixun took the opportunity to open the city gate and let the left army outside the city enter the city.

In terms of military discipline, Zuo Liangyu's subordinates may be the worst in all the Ming armies. Since the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu has supported his troops and ravaged the place for a long time, and his army burned, killed and looted. And the imperial court was completely helpless about his actions, and could only try its best to appease him for fear of forcing him to rebel.

So as soon as they entered Jiujiang, Zuo Liangyu's army began to rush into the people's homes like wild horses, ** women, robbing wealth, killing people and setting fires, and the entire Jiujiang City was like hell on earth.

Looking at the firelight in the sky and listening to the cries of the people in the city, Yuan Jixian's heart was like ashes. The words of cherishing the people are still in his ears, and the people under his rule have fallen into hell, his lips trembled, Yuan Jixian pulled out the sword at his waist, and was about to swing the sword to kill himself, but he was hugged by the arm of the personal soldiers around him.

The soldiers took the sword from Yuan Jixian's hand, and took his subordinates to protect Yuan Jixian and wanted to escape from Jiujiang City.

But before he could escape far, he was meeting Zhang Yingyuan, the general of Zuo Liangyu's department. The disparity in numbers was huge, and Yuan Jixian's personal soldiers had to surrender.

"Butcher, butcher!" was taken by Zhang Yingyuan to Zuo Liangyu's boat, Yuan Jixian pointed at Zuo Liangyu and scolded, and then rose up to break free from the soldiers of the Zuo Army who were holding him, ran to the side of the boat and jumped into the river.

Zuo Liangyu hurriedly asked his subordinates to go into the water to rescue Yuan Jixian.

"Why is Brother Ji Tong so stubborn, Ben Hou is not a chaotic minister and thief." Zuo Liangyu persuaded Yuan Jixian, who was drenched.

"My lord, you are dead now, so why make up for it? It's better to stay in Zuo Liangyu's army and act at the opportunity, so that you can persuade Zuo Liangyu to one or two, at least save some more people. ”

Li Youlong, the central supervisor of Yuan Jixian's army, had already surrendered to Zuo Liangyu and pulled Yuan Jixian aside to persuade.

Yuan Jixian thought for a long time, sighed, and could only compromise.

"It's not impossible for me to join Hou Ye, but you must immediately order the left army to withdraw from Jiujiang and stop killing the people." Yuan Jixian said to Zuo Liangyu.

"That's natural, and I immediately ordered the army to withdraw." Zuo Liangyu was overjoyed when he heard this, and promised again and again. At this time, most of the army generals in Jiujiang had surrendered to the left army, and even if the left army withdrew from Jiujiang, it was still under their control.

At this time, Zuo Liangyu had no intention of rebelling and seizing the Ming Dynasty, he was already old and seriously ill, and the reason why he led the army east was to avoid the edge of Li Zicheng's Dashun army.

Since he had no intention of rebellion, of course he didn't dare to kill Yuan Jixian, an important minister of the court, easily. Moreover, Zuo Liangyu's status as a military general, although he has become the Marquis of Ningnan, there is still a heartfelt fear of civil officials, and the idea of being a noble and martial artist has penetrated into his bone marrow. In the past few days, although countless people have been slaughtered, he did not dare to order the killing of a civilian official of the Ming Dynasty.

Not daring to kill Yuan Jixian, and unable to release him back to Jiujiang, Zuo Liangyu ordered Yuan Jixian to be placed under house arrest in the boat. Then the army was gathered and prepared to continue down the river.

However, the discipline of his army is too loose, and the soldiers who have entered Jiujiang City are very excited about plundering, where are they willing to leave the city easily?

Zuo Liangyu's military order has been for a long time, and there are still many soldiers who refuse to withdraw in Jiujiang City. This delay was two days, and Zuo Liangyu's illness suddenly became serious.

On the fourth day of the fourth month of April in the first year of Hongguang, on the fourth day when Zuo Liangyu's army arrived in Jiujiang, Zuo Liangyu, the general of Ningnan Hou Ping, died of illness in a boat outside Jiujiang.

Zuo Liangyu, the word Kunshan, a native of Linqing, Shandong, lost his father when he was a child, and joined the army as an adult. In the early days of the army, Zuo Liangyu was brave and good at fighting, and made many military exploits, and became the commander of the first army from an ordinary soldier. However, Zuo Liangyu in the later period had long lost the blood of his youth, and when he encountered a strong enemy, he only knew how to escape, and he was as fierce as a wolf to the people, burning, killing and looting, and forcing the people to join the army. In Zuo Liangyu's life, he gave orders to slaughter the city many times, and countless people died under the butcher's knife of his army. Cowardly to foreign enemies and fierce to the people, this is Zuo Liangyu and the army he leads!

After Zuo Liangyu's death, the generals of the Left Army pushed Zuo Liangyu's son Zuo Mengeng as the leader, thinking that the vanguard of the Shun army had reached Jiujiang not far away. After deliberation, the army continued eastward, and on 7 April, the left army captured Pengze, and on 8 April occupied Dongliu. In the face of the huge 200,000-odd Left Army, the cities on both sides of the river did not dare to resist at all, for fear of being slaughtered by the Left Army.

On April 8, the left army continued to move eastward, and the main force reached Anqing, with the general soldier Li Guoying as the vanguard, and the troops pointed directly at Tongling.

At this time, the fleet led by Ren Siqi set off from Wuhu and had arrived in Tongling. This is the predetermined battlefield for the battle with Zuo Liangyu's army.

Ren Siqi's Daishan army had many ships, nearly 40,000 people had more than 800 large and small ships, all of whom were by boat and the speed was relatively fast.

According to the plan discussed with Huang Degong, Ren Siqi's army was deployed in the south of the Yangtze River, responsible for resisting the attack of Zuo Liangyu's army from the south bank of the Yangtze River. Huang Degong's army was deployed in Jiangbei to resist the left army on the north bank of the river. As for Zuo Liangyu's navy, there were two armies and sailors to deal with it together.

Zuo Liangyu's army of more than 200,000 people, plus the people who carried them, added up to 400,000 people, known as the "600,000 army". It was impossible for so many people to take the waterway entirely, but the fleet carried supplies and baggage to the waterway, and the army was distributed on both sides of the Yangtze River.

Arriving at Tongling, Ren Siqi ordered 10,000 infantry to disembark immediately and lay a defensive line on the south bank of the Yangtze River to block the attack of the left army from the south bank. More than 800 large and small ships set up camps on the river near Tongling City, and cooperated with Huang Degong's army on the north bank to cut the Yangtze River into two ends.

More than a dozen clippers were sent up the river to investigate the movements of the Left Army's naval division. The infantry on the riverbank was nervously arranging the defensive line. Bands of soldiers carrying knives and axes went into the dense forest on the riverbank, cut down trees, and dragged them back to the riverbank. With the efforts of 10,000 infantry, the battalion was quickly set up. Antler fence trench one should have. At the edge of the camp, more than a dozen arrow towers more than one zhang high were built out of bamboo and wood, and there were more than a dozen musketeers on each arrow tower.

More than a hundred guns were unloaded from the ship and transported to the river bank, with the muzzles of the black hole pointed to the west. The fleet that returned from the Wa Kingdom brought back hundreds of thousands of catties of copper and iron, and under the supervision of Liang Jiu, the workshop in Daishan cast more than 300 cannons. Of course, this is not all the kind of red-coated cannons that cost 3,000 catties at every turn, most of which are hundreds of catties of artillery.

Just on the tense arrangement of the defensive line by his subordinate army, Ren Siqi entered Tongling City with a team of personal soldiers. (To be continued.) )